Resilient Insights for Work & Life

For the past three years in December, my twin brother has sent me a pot of amaryllis blubs from Harry and David’s. But this Christmas, the blubs came looking
less than hardy: very dry, small, and pretty pathetic compared to past years.

A recent study at the University of Michigan found that empathetic skills in college students have declined by as much at 48% over the last 8 years.
The reasons for the decline are many, but two in particular stand out:

What is blossoming for you right now? A thought to ponder. Remember, resilience is cultivated. Like any plant, it takes time to grow and—sometimes-
must be transplanted into a new “situation” to begin again.

Just like any plant, you must till the soil, seed, feed, and weed. Where are you in the cultivating process? Where is your soil hard-packed, root-bound—not
letting any new idea or behavior surface? What seeds would you like to plant? How will you feed that seed? And, altho always a pain to do— there
are times we must weed out emotions such as anger and fear. Forgiveness is a great fertilizer. Who deserves your forgiveness? Better still, even i
they don’t “deserve it”, perhaps you do!

Comfort zones are like warm milk, a cozy blanket, and a lullaby. When life appears hard, scary, or challenging, such zones offer safety and familiarity.
But comfort zones also can hold us back from moving into the next stage of life, of learning, of relationships.

Let me first define what a resilient work relationship looks like. It is not someone who stays in the organization forever. The truth of the matter is
people can “stay” but their minds and spirits are gone. Their bodies are present, but they are absentee landlords!

The standard concept of sustainability is the capacity of biological systems to remain diverse and productive over time—like healthy wetlands and
old growth forests. In the workplace, sustainability is equally important in considering the two-legged biological "systems" that sit in cubicles,
drive to sales calls, conduct virtual meetings, perform surgery, write manuals, handle customers, and a host of other activities.

Feeling compassion may go a long way to improving well-being, reducing stress and achieving better academic results, according to a study recently released
by University of Redlands researchers. With over a decade of research, the study was released by Religious Studies Professor Fran Grace, Psychology
Professor Celine Ko and Biology Professor Lisa Olson.

Mayshad Magazine is an advocacy platform for empowerment which mainly focuses on empowering women, raising awareness and exploring a contemporary lifestyle.
Their tagline is "Be Who You Want To Be" and their content is both educating and uplifting. I was delighted when I was approached for an
interview and I'm excited to share it with you.

The questions I was asked included “As a motivational speaker, how do you keep yourself daily motivated to transmit your positivity to other individuals?
Where does your passion come from?”, “In what ways does the relationship between a speaker and an audience sustain you, and in what ways does it
not?”, “If you had to choose one empowering speech you could share with our Mayshad readers right now, what would it be?” and more. You can read
the entire interview at https://bit.ly/2UHmHKW.